The Old Geezer and His Wife
by ofalldays
Summary: Iroh and Asami were rather fond playmates, best friends, it would seem. But they both agreed long ago they couldn't see each other as anything more. After hearing of their forced engagement made so many years before, they are determined to find a way out before the worst day of their lives occurs. Their wedding day.


_In this AU situation, Aang had captured Yakone and had him exocuted for his crimes against Republic City._

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**Chapter One: A Fate Bestowed**

A sharp cry pierced the air as two midwives carefully tended to the new born baby. A young married couple clasped hands nearby where the mother had presently given birth. Their eyes were wide with fright and overcalculating thoughts, their grip growing tighter when the baby began to quiet. Hiroshi Sato wiped his wife's forehead and planted a kiss on her forehead, his beard tickling her although she was too exhausted and too scared to laugh. She craned her neck to peer at her baby being washed on the other side of the room and asked desperately, "My baby. Is my baby okay?"

The couple had lost every single one of their babies before are soon after childbirth, a total of five in all. The thought of losing another one would be too much to bear. One of the midwives, a round-faced woman in her early forties, turned to the mother and gave a reassuring smile. "She's beautiful, my lady."

Another cry brought her attention back to the bloody newborn. She chuckled. "Lively one, too."

"What will you name her?" the other midwife asked, gingerly setting the baby in her mother's arms. The newborn was pinkfaced and had a headful of black hair, a pair of lime green eyes wincing at her parents before squeezing shut to let out a gut-wrenching scream. The two new parents stared in awe at the little bundle wrapped in soft white cloth. Minutes passed, and they still could not believe their child had made it. Hiroshi caressed the baby's face with his index finger, slightly worried with his daughter's silence. "Well, Aila, what do you think?"

His wife simply smiled and whispered, "Asami. Her name is Asami."

* * *

Six years had passed, and the Sato family were going around the world in hopes of finding a sponsor for Hiroshi's innovative idea. Aila knew her husband was fanatical about his invention, and stopping him for the sake of living a normal life...she couldn't bring herself to do it. The family would go for days without a proper meal; even Aila would forfeit more than a day's worth just to make sure her Asami ate enough to be healthy. They stopped in what used to be the Fire Nation's-now renamed United Nations-capitol and found shelter in a merchant's shed. Every night, the family of three would hold each other close, singing sweet lullabies until Asami fell asleep. Then Hiroshi would serenade his wife with the promise of a better life.

"I'm telling you, darling," Hiroshi whispered excitedly to her,"We're going to get a big house. It will be filled with the most expensive furniture and the best staff. We'll live comfortably for the rest of our days. I'll buy you the prettiest dresses, and we'll attend luxurious balls-"

"I want our house to be on a hill," she interrupted sleepily, her eyelids beginning to droop. Unaware of her husband, she was losing weight and even came down with illnesses quite often. When Hiroshi and Asami wasn't around, her body would be hunched over as she shivered and dry-heaved in the corner. When they returned, she feigned a wandering mind-anything to make Hiroshi's burden lighter. Even though he was reaching his late early thirties, he was already sporting shades of grey in his hairs, making her husband look years beyond his actual age.

"A hill, you say?" he chuckled, stroking her long hair with his calloused hand, "Then on a hill it shall be."

The next morning, Aila couldn't hide her sickness any longer. Her greatest worry had come true-Hiroshi had noticed. He nearly went mad with worry, rushing around and making her as comfortable as possible, murmuring sweet nothings while Asami watched in the corner.

"Just rest, okay? I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, beautiful," he rushed apologetically, tucking her in a worn blanket as she gazed at him with half-lidded eyes. Her breathing was erratic and her skin was damp with sweat, and her ghost of a smile didn't soothe her husband's worries.

"You-You have a meeting," she wheezed. Hiroshi perked up in surprise. It had flown over his head completely. The meeting was with a member of the Royal Family, _of course_ he couldn't miss it. He could be their big break. "G-Go."

"But, I can't just leave Asami with you-"

"Then take Asami," she groaned, breaking into a fit of coughs, "Take her so she won't get sick."

He nodded. No matter what, the two parents agreed Asami would be their first priority. So he took little Asami by the hand and led her out of the shed. Even at six years old, Asami knew better than to ask questions that would make her father worry, so she held onto her father's hand and followed him to his meeting without looking back. Besides, Hiroshi didn't.

* * *

The large room made Asami uncomfortable. She wasn't accustomed to such wide, but still confined, spaces. But she sat like an obedient daughter beside her father, green eyes trained on the floor while the two men discussed business. The floors were a rich, deep red color covered by expensive tapestry of elaborate paintings of dancing lizards-dragons, but Asami knew nothing of the sort. Fiery torches lit the room behind the noble, giving him an eerie backlighting. She inwardly shuddered.

"You seem distracted, Mr. Sato," the noble observed, one eyebrow quirking with annoyance, "if I am being a waste of your time, please, allow yourself to be dismissed."

Hiroshi sputtered, eyes wide by the noble's comment. "I-I apologize. My wife is sick and I-"

"I do not necessarily care of what distracts you, Mr. Sato," he coolly replied. "Only that if continues to do so, I must ask you to leave. There are other matters I must attend to."

"O-Of course, sir. As you can see with this diagram here, the Satomobile will be-"

The noble yawned, causing Hiroshi to visibly stiffen. That yawn blew the rest of his composure away. _I lost this one_. But his daughter wouldn't go down until they had said their point. They left her sick mother for this meeting. Asami slowly, delicately lifted her head and met the noble's gaze. He was a man in his mid-thirties, with a thick beard and a mustache much like a cat-fish's. And he looked _bored_. She cleared her throat while her father struggled to gather his composure again.

"The Satomobile will revolutionalize the world as we know it. With the ability to reach up to sixty miles an hour for eight hours, one can easily reach far distances on paved roads. Which means goods can be distri-distribu-"

"Distributed," the noble corrected with an amused smirk on his face. He was watching her now.

Asami clenched her jaw before continuing, "_Distributed_ throughout the land. Perhaps the most obvious is the time it will save people in general. Time to travel. Time to receive goods. Time to export goods. Time saved that was once wasted on refueling animals. The Satomobile runs on-it is oil, right, Daddy? Yes, oil. It is an abundant resource that can be quickly gathered and purified easily by benders or nonbenders alike. It can boost the econ-econ-It can help _everyone_. And that is why you should give us money."

She finished it off with a cheeky smile on her face, hands clasped on one side of her face. Hiroshi sighed, refraining from slumping his shoulders. At least Asami tried. After attending the same kind of meeting day after day after day, and not learning anything else since she couldn't attend school, she memorized every word her father said. She even learned what they meant in time for her to utilize it. Impressive as it would seem, Asami learned later in life that it was a sign of her deprived childhood. The noble slowly clapped his hands, an impish grin developing on his pale face. "I am amazed by your daughter-and your contraption, of course. How about...we speak about this in another room. Would you like a cigar?"

ooo

Asami was escorted to the courtyard to stretch her legs while a caretaker supervised her. Her father and the noble left through one door, and she was taken out through another. The garden wasn't as large as she expected it to be, but she liked it like that. The plush grass left her footprints wherever she walked, and the surrounding plants all gave off a pleasant aroma. The flowers were all different shades of red, white, and yellow, with various shapes to add onto its originality. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and gazed down at the pond, giggling in surprise when she noticed the turtleducks quacking on the other side of the pond. Her reflection stared right back at her with the same bewildered stare, smiling at her when she did.

She heard someone laughing triumphantly as they ran down the corridor, several butlers running after what looked like a young prince. She instinctively hid behind the bushes-peering out occasionally. The maid who was supposed to be watching her was swept away in the commotion, and Asami realized she was alone.

"Daddy will find me," she whispered to herself and crawled out. The garden seemed much scarier now that she noticed she was alone. Her faded green dress was easily torn with the branch's thorns, but that didn't particularly have her attention. The boy angrily spewing fire at the turtle ducks in the pond did. His hair was long like hers, but the contorted facial expressions as he vented his anger definitely proved to her that he was, indeed, a boy. He had pale skin, just like she did, but his eyes were like burnt gold. And his posture was certainly admirable to the peasant watching as he re-corrected his stance. Glaring at the turtle ducks sitting lazily in the pond, he raised his fist to burn them to a crisp.

"Don't do it, you _monster_!"

The boy froze, looking around for the source of the voice. Asami stood up as tall as she could and marched over to him and crossed her arms. He was taller than she assumed, but it was too late to back down. He glared at her and huffed, turning away from her piercing stare. "I don't have to listen to you. They're just turtle ducks."

"What did the turtle duck ever do to you?" she asked with an accusing tone, her eyes glistening with tears. The boy blinked a few times before kneeling before her and desperately looking for something to calm her down with. He didn't mean to make her _cry_. "Uh...Uh...I-I'm sorry!"

She cocked her head to the side, her near fit of tears disappeared. "For?"

He scratched his head nervously and avoided making eye contact. "For attacking the turtle ducks. You can keep a secret, right, Servant Girl?"

Asami didn't exactly know what a servant was, so she wasn't particularly offended. But she was curious about a secret. "I don't have anyone to tell, Stranger."

He plopped down on the grass and stared at the wide azure sky above, tearing at the grass nervously as he tried to make sense of the words in his head. "I...just don't feel like I'm worthy of being the second son."

"Worthy?"

"Yeah...I mean, my older brother does so well...he can even lightning bend now. I-I just don't feel as though I'm worth-"

Asami turned to him and punched him in the face. He reeled back, gripping his nose and scrambling backward, golden eyes wide with shock. "What are you doing?"

"IF YOU CAN'T BEAT ME, YOU REALLY AREN'T WORTHY OF BEING THE SECOND SON!" she screamed, tackling him to the ground. Her war screech was enough to attract the attention of several servants. She pulled at his hair and kicked his knees multiple times, but the young boy wouldn't fight back. He grabbed her thin wrists and pinned her to the ground, his breathing ragged as he tried to not use firebending. His grandfather wouldn't condole his actions if he did. "Who _are_ you?"

She kneed him in the stomach and pushed him off her, scrambling to her feet and jumping on him to keep him down. "I am Asami, first child of Hiroshi Sato. And I am a nonbender who beat you up. You aren't worthy of being the second son, after all."

He growled. "Why you-take that back!"

"I will when you deserve it!" she hollered back to him as she ran away. The serious mood ebbed away as the two children played a game of tag, melodious laughter filling the air with the occasional insult to keep the fire going. The servants were glad they hadn't interrupted before.

* * *

**Okay okay...I had to. I ship Irohsami, and the idea popped into my head after introducing them previously in my other story. It won't be connected to the other story though. ...but that's an idea. Hehe. Not a one-shot.**


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